Spaghetti Meat Sauce
with Fennel Seeds and Red Pepper
I’ve recently tried a few soup and vegetarian pasta sauce recipes that call for fennel seeds and crushed red pepper flakes. I’m obsessed with this combination. The fennel seeds change the flavor pallet to slightly more earthy, and the red pepper flakes give it a little bit of heat that makes you coming back for another bite. Even if you just added these spices to your normal store bought jar of marinara sauce…I’m telling you…game changer!
I currently live in Japan, where the marinara sauce on the shelves in the Japanese grocery stores isn’t all that great. Luckily, making my own homemade sauce isn’t too difficult. For this recipe, In addition to the ground beef, I added mushrooms (any kind will work) to bring out the umami taste. The finely chopped mushrooms blend in right along with the ground beef and chopped chicken liver, so my kids don’t even realize they are eating mushrooms!
Speaking of liver, I like to add chopped up chicken liver to every ground beef/red sauce dish I make. If the idea of eating liver is new, foreign, or flat-out repulsive to you, you are not alone. Liver used to be a staple in our grandparent’s diets, but unfortunately, most of our (Western) generation hasn’t grown up eating it. However, living in Japan, I see liver on the menu at every yakiniku (grilled meat) and yakitori (grilled chicken) restaurant. I always order it because 1.) cooking meats over a charcoal grill makes everything taste better, and 2.) it’s the most nutrient dense food that exists…Iron, B-12, folate, Vitamins A, D, E and K, choline, and cooper to name a few. You of course can leave it out, but with red sauce, you can’t even taste it and you miss an easy opportunity to pack in the micronutrients. In fact, it’s recommended that pregnant woman eat liver 1-2 times a week! I digress…
For this recipe I also go heavy on the garlic because it’s delicious and according to research it’s the #1 food to eat to prevent cancer. To cut back on refined carbohydrates, I like to eat this sauce with grated zucchini, but I always serve it on top of pasta for the kids.
However you choose to eat this spaghetti meat sauce, with or without the chopped liver, with zucchini noodles, or over traditional spaghetti noodles, I know you will enjoy the extra spice and depth of this homemade spaghetti meat sauce with fennel seeds and red pepper. Enjoy!
Ingredients:
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 onion, finely diced
4 large cloves of garlic, minced
8 oz mushrooms, finely chopped
1 lb grass-fed ground beef
2 chicken livers, finely chopped
1 Tbsp dried oregano
1 Tbsp dried basil
1 Tbsp fennel seeds
1 to 2 tsp red pepper flakes
4 oz (1/2 cup) tomato paste
1 28oz can crushed tomatoes
salt and pepper to taste
Fresh basil, for serving
Freshly grated parmesan, for serving
Instructions:
Heat a large pan or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add olive oil and sauté the onion until about soft, about 5 minutes. Add in the garlic, mushrooms, oregano, basil, and fennel seeds and continue to cook for another minute.
Push the onion, mushrooms, and garlic to the outside of the pot and add the ground beef and chicken liver, breaking up the meat as it browns.
Add the tomato paste and red pepper flakes. Mix it into the meat and veggies, stirring frequently as the tomato paste turns a dark red, about 4 to 5 minutes.
Add the crushed tomatoes, and salt/pepper to taste. Simmer for at least 20 minutes, and up to several hours on low heat.
Serve with fresh basil and freshly grated parmesan over pasta or grated zucchini.
